Race, Sexuality and Identity in Britain and Jamaica: The Biography of Patrick Nelson, 1916-1963

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This is the first biography of the extraordinary, but ordinary life of, Patrick Nelson. His experiences touched on some of the most important and intriguing historical themes of the twentieth century. He was a black migrant to interwar Britain; an aristocrat's valet in rural Wales; a Black queer man in 1930s London; an artist's model; a law student, a recruit to the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps and Prisoner of War during the Second World War. Through his return to Jamaica after the war and his re-migrations to London in the late 1940s and the early 1960s, he was also witness to post-war Jamaican struggles and the independence movement as well as the development of London's post-war multi-ethnic migrations. Drawing on a range of archival materials including letters sent to individuals such as Bloomsbury group artist Duncan Grant (his former boyfriend and life-long friend), as well as paintings and newspaper articles, Gemma Romain explores the intersections of these diverse aspects of Nelson's life and demonstrates how such marginalized histories shed light on our understanding of broader historical themes such as Black LGBTQ history, Black British history in relation to the London artworld, the history of the Second World War, and histories of racism, colonialism and empire.

Reviews

Romains biography of Patrick Nelson throws light on and enriches a wide range of histories, including the history of the Second World War Her work is important not only for Second World War and black British history, but also for art history, migration histories, and queer history, including the history of interracial queer relationships and of black queer lives in Britain and Jamaica. * American Historical Review *
Gemma Romains narrative of Patrick Nelsons life in Jamaica, London and beyond gives us valuable insights into a range of experiences of an ordinary black man in the mid-twentieth century. From growing up in Kingston in the 1920s, to working as a valet, to life in queer Bloomsbury as a lover and model for Duncan Grant, to his harsh years as a soldier and POW in the Second World War, he witnessed Jamaican and British histories of colonialism and decolonisation and reminds us of how much we need to know of the rich diversity of black lives. * Professor Catherine Hall, Chair Emerita of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership, University College London, UK *
Gemma Romains book is a feat of prodigious historical research and her fascinating subject, Patrick Nelson, emerges in its pages with richness, detail, and context. Romains attentiveness to the particular challenges of unfolding lives traditionally unattended to, and her sheer skill in finding hitherto obscure materials, are remarkable. This book changes our sense of what it is possible to know, and to say, about black queer Caribbean life in the early part of the twentieth century. * Nadia Ellis, Associate Professor, University of California, Berkeley, USA *
As rich in its explicit methodology as it is in its content ... Romain weaves a tale that makes a significant contribution to the understanding of black British history, queer history, histories of art and modernism, of London and of Jamaica ... A very welcome addition for academic readers researching and teaching in these fields, this book will also be of great relevance to wider audiences interested in these topics. * Journal of Historical Geography *
Working across a range of cultural, military, queer and colonial archives, her [Romain's] meticulous work piecing together Nelsons biography allows the reader to explore both what they reveal and what they do not reveal. * Journal of Contemporary History *

Author Bio

Gemma Romain is a historian of the Caribbean and Black Britain. She researches, curates and writes on black British queer histories, and African-Caribbean diasporic histories with a focus on Grenada and Jamaica. She has recently worked at The Equiano Centre, Department of Geography, UCL, UK and is an Honorary Fellow of The Parkes Institute, University of Southampton, UK. She was the co-curator with Caroline Bressey, Emma Chambers and Inga Fraser of the Tate Britain display Spaces of Black Modernism: London 191939 (2014-2015).